Happy Valentine's Day!

We started this morning trying to take a family snapshot to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day by having Scott hold out the camera, and after we got this...

then this... we finally just asked Scott to take a picture of the girls, and we got this.

Happy Valentine's Day from Mom and the M & M's!

I had decided I would try to be a good mom this morning and make the girls heart-shaped pancakes so I bought some heart-shaped cookie cutters at Target earlier in the week. I figured if I put them on the griddle then poured the pancake mix into the cookie cutters, that I would have perfectly shaped heart pancakes which therefore would also set me up to be nominated for mother-of-the-year. (I'm pretty sure heart-shaped food on Valentine's Day, bunny-shaped food on Easter, Santa-shaped food on Christmas, etc., etc.,etc., are minimum requirements for nomination for the coveted award.) Anyway, on with the story, I figure I've got this pancake figured out and these are sure to be the best looking, best tasting heart-shaped pancakes ever. What I didn't realize was how these things were going to rise. And rise they did, and I do mean R-I-S-E. They started rising a little, and I didn't think anything about it until they started rising up ABOVE the sides of the cookie cutters. By the time they were ready to flip, they were as high as a biscuit. When McKenzie saw them she couldn't believe it and in her "oh-so-smart-I-could-have-done-this-way-better-than-you-Mom" fashion, she said (with complete love and respect, I'm sure), "Mom, why didn't you just make the pancakes like usual then cut out the heart shapes with the cookie cutters?" To which I replied, "Oh, yeah, good idea." And, oh, by the way, that's the way I made all consecutive batches this morning. Take my advise, it works WAY better that way! Anyway, here's one of the pancakes from the first batch (they fell a little after I finally figured out a way to finagle them out of the cookie cutter they were stuck in (something else I didn't think through completely when I came up with this brilliant idea.)

Big as a biscuit or not, McKenzie loved them.

Madison, on the other hand did not. After she finished the first one, I asked her if she wanted another, and she said, "No. I want Chocolate Cookie." Got to love the sheer honesty of a 2 year old.

As I told Mom about this breakfast fiasco today, she said, "Well, Lisa, you should have just made those pancakes "as big as that skillet." If you don't know this story it has to do with Ashley Amos when she was about 8 or 9 and Louise, the Amos' maid. Ashley's mom, Jean, wanted Ashley to lose a little weight, but every morning when Louise would ask Ashley what she wanted for breakfast, Ashley would say, "Louise, make me a pancake as big as that skillet," to which Louise would reply, "Ashley, you don't need no pancake big as dat skillet." So Ashley would say, "Then I want an omelette with lots and lots and lots of cheese." And Louise would say, "Ashley, you don't need no omelette with lots and lots and lots and lots of cheese." Thanks for reminding me of that story, Mom. I hadn't thought about that in years!

Here's Madison in her new Valentine PJ's. I've been trying to catch this look on film for forever, and I finally got it tonight. She's definitely the queen of funny looks, and this look is DEFINITELY 100% Madison.

After teasing her for a little while, I finally got this little smile.


And here's another cute picture of her before she left for school this morning.

In other news, McKenzie's school has been collecting money for Pennies for Patients this week. Everyday they could participate in some kind of fun activity, and on Tuesday it was Fashion Disaster day. She and I raided her closet and basically tried our best to make her look like a fashion disaster. Then we decided we needed to do something with her hair, so we got every barrette we own and put it in her hair. I don't know about you, but I think she ended up looking a little more like a flashback to the 80's than a fashion disaster (but come to think of it, weren't 80's fashions the epitomy of a fashion disaster?????) Anyway, I guess no matter what she wears or how her hair is fixed, she's still unbelievably CUTE!


She decided she wanted to make a sign that said "Fashion Disaster" so she could pin it on her back. So she did...

But here's what it really said.

If you can't read it, it says "Fason Dusaser." So cute!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! We love you!

My Little Cheerleader

Since before McKenzie turned 3 years old, she's wanted nothing more than to be a cheerleader. When they built a new Gymnastics & Cheerleading Studio by her daycare, she asked me every single day for weeks to go sign her up for Cheerleading classes. So when they finally opened for business we went to sign her up only to find out that you had to be at least 6 to take cheerleading. She was so sad and of course asked me how long it would be until she turned 6. I didn't have the heart to tell her it would be another 3 years.

Fast forward almost 4 years, and McKenzie finally got to to live out her dream of being a cheerleader. Douglas County High School sponsors a yearly cheerleading clinic, and even though it was only for a few hours last Saturday, she had a blast. She was in her element. Even t hough they were only there for 3 hours, it's amazing how much she learned! She was even doing hurkies. ("What the heckie is a hurkie?" - A line from Hannah Montana...if you don't watch it incensently like we do at our house, you won't get it, but to us, it's funny.)

I know I'm partial here, but she really stood out in the huge crowd of kids. She was enthusiastic and jumping and really, really enjoying herself. She LOVED it, and she was really great at it!

They performed for the parents on Saturday right after the clinic, then after their performance they sat down on the gym floor and watched the high school team perform their routine for competition. There were so many kids, Madison hadn't been able to see McKenzie until she sat down, and once she saw her she started crying to go and see her. I expected McKenzie to ignore her and tell her to be quiet, but she did just the opposite. She waved at Madison and motioned for her to come over then she held her in her lap until Madison wiggled away and sat on the floor beside her. I tell you, this kid has a heart of gold and she is so in love with her little sister. I was so very proud!!

The cheering pictures above are from Tuesday night when the little girls got to perform at half time of the high school basketball game. McKenzie thought she had died and gone to heaven she was so happy about getting another chance to perform. We got much better pictures that night because we got a spot right in front of where she was standing. I'll try to learn how to upload the video because it's priceless!

Happy Friday!